A species of fish – Schistura Hiranyakeshi – recently discovered in Amboli area might pave the way for this region in the Western Ghats to be declared as a Biodiversity Heritage Site. Wildlife Researcher Tejas Thackeray, who is also the trustee of Thackeray Wildlife Foundation (TWF), had written a letter to the forest secretary in the first week of March requesting for the same. If the government agrees to it, then this would be a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country to declare the area as a protected site due to the presence of a fish species that faces the threat of extinction.

The temple pond where the species has been found